Hand-Me-Downs

I am having mixed feelings about hand-me-down clothes today. I am forever grateful that I have been able to reuse my oldest son's clothing. It is nice to just go to the garage and look for the blue tub with the size I need labeled on the front. There is no need to run to the store when J's jeans are running up his leg. It has been nice to give these hand-me-downs to others...as it clears up a spot in my garage for another tub of clothes. It's also nice to relive memories of T when I open up the tubs. The stories of his childhood overwhelm me sometimes.

The hardest part is seeing how quickly J is going through the tubs. I just opened a new tub of clothing and couldn't help but think that T had just worn these yesterday. I vividly remember buying him a particular outfit for the first day of school. Now I'm putting that same outfit on my preschooler. Time is going too quickly.

Then I look at my baby in comparison to my growing boys. The baby cheeks on my boys are starting to disappear and the trim faces of little men are beginning to peak through. Their little hands are no longer little...what once used to grip Cheerios on the table are now throwing baseballs and hitting slap shots.

I reminisce in the memories these clothes give and am thankful for the convenience. It's all a juggling act that I'm thankful to have. I just wish that someone would invent a freeze machine so I could go through the tubs a little slower.